Viking Family Building
by Roxburry Black
Summary: *re uploaded b/c changed name for main character* Kaija is a rather normal shephard but when Vikings attack she heads off on a rather bizzare adventure. *Story better than summary*
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Hetalia

The sky hung heavy with grey clouds and a frozen rattling wind swept across the fields and rattled the empty trees. Snow was thrown up before the harsh breeze, the tiny village stood out mournfully from the natural landscape. People hurried between house to house with heads ducked and wrapped in furs. Wisps of smoke curled lazily toward the sky, thier fires doing almost nothing to keep the household occupents warm. It was, mused Berwald, the perfect place to raid. Crouching underneath a massive tree on the nearest hilltop he gazed down at the unnaturally large village. It was sandwitched between two big hills with no easy way in. It was probably why all other raids had ended in the vikings death.

Berwald watched one tiny figure in particular. A tall teenaged girl with big, soft blue eyes and an imposing stature was tending to herd of very cold sheep. She was ignoring the cold, insteading focusing on helping one of the baby sheep keep wam by wrapping it in her own coat. Her crook snagged a sheep the tried to stray to far. Those sheep would definetly help the vikings with the winter, but the girl protecting them seemed to know what she was doing.

Berwald stood and disappeared into the woods, heading back to his own crew. They stood next to the boat, fingering thier seperate weapons and smirking.

"Gr'b th' sh'p n'd 'ny loot ye' c'n fi'n. "He ordered, his accent heavy. his men nodded and he pointed to the newbies, "guard th' sh'p." They frowned but nodded and the rest of the vikings began moving into pro ordained positions. As the sun began it's slow decent into the horizen Berwald stood and gave a animalesque roar, the roar shattered the early evening peace. Reverberating through every hollow tree and against every rock it folded, stretched and doubled, it was overwhelming and impossible to ignore. It was the kind of roar that made ones hair stand on end, the attack had started.

Kaija, the young shepardess was in the act of pushing the sheep gently into the enclosment when a vicious roar caught her off guard. Glacing up she saw an imposibly tall man. Even from this distance she saw the glint of a pair of things the village leaeders had called glasses. More people took up his roar, whirling around she saw more raiders standing at the lip of the rather small valley. The shout brought out them men of the village, yanking up pants and brandishing weapons. But the man in glasses got her attention. As his bellow died off he began bounding the the hill. Longs legs jumping over fallen logs and clearing snow drifts, all around the hills more vikings began sprinting down the hill.

Kaija shoved the last few sheep into the pen and readied her staff. If this was going to be a battle she was going to go down fighting. As them men folk finally began to come out the raiders hit.

The tallest of them hit the tiny crowd of villagers like a stong wind a pile of leaves. They scattered. A bleating of scared sheep caught her attention and swinging her staff popped the raider on the head. He dropped the sheep and slid to the ground, groaning. Astrid go up close and personal with the next attempted raider, kicking him in the vital regions before kicking his head. The next to raiders were easily dealt with, Kaija just beat them with her staff, trying to protect her flock. MAny people were caving under the sheer power of the vikings while only the top warriors continuing to fighht.

Berwald dispatched his apponent and cast his eyes about. Everywhere his men were succeding except with th tall shepard girl. She had already downed four of his men. Slashing though another half-baked attempt to kill him he strod over to her, swinging his broadsword. As she knocked out another one of his raiders he grabbed her staff and jerked it to a halt. The girl whirled around, eyes widening in shock. As she met his eyes she scowled and then yanked her staff out of his hands.

The circled each other and the other fights seemd to still.

Bewald swung his blade and she sidestepped and rapped his knee. His knee buckled and he fell to one side. The other end of her staff blurred toward his head. Collapsing in the snow completlyhe rolled to the sideand jumped up again. His own staff in hand. He held it defensivley and they traded blows. Testing each others strength. To Berwalds surprise she was extremely stong.

The girl hook the crook around his ankle and pulled. Berwald had his feet yanked uout from underneath him and he crashed to the ground. His breath wooshing out of him. As the staff came down on his head he reached out and grabbed it again. With a vicious tug he pulled it out of her grasp. She lurched forward, trying to regain her grip.

Kaija felt herself falling and tried to backpeddle but a firm tug on the crook sealed her fate. Kaija collapsed on top of the tall viking. She blinked into his blue eyes for a moment before trying to shove herself off. Before she could he flipped them over, changing the positions.

Berwald flipped them over before she could escape. Sitting on her legs he forced her arms above her head. The girl scowled, her blue eyes turning hard as ice, matching his own steely look. Her defeat seemd to be the sign for the men to surrender. All the women and children were herded into a group while the men were seperated. Berwald glanced down at his furiosu captive and barked an order to his men, "G't th' r'pe 'nd s'me c'rds." His second in command tossed him some rawhide cord with a length of rope. Eyes glinting dangerously as the girl he non-verbally dared her to resist as he deftly bound her wrists. He ignored the very, very, very, very, very, very rude words spewing from her mouth in favor of yanking her to her feet and quickly tying her up, her arms stuck at her sides. Berwald pushed her over again and knotted her ankles together, not daring to take a chance. With the last bit of cord he firmly gagged her, cutting off the flow of swear words and very rude implications.

Thrownig her face first into the snow he placed a heavy booted fooot on her back. "T'ke th' s'lv'r 'nd ge' th' sh'p." Some of the women started and he watched them carefully, searching for a sign of the shepard girls family. But no one even spared a glance toward the girl and except the village elder who looked upon her bound form in the snow with sorrow in his eyes

Several of his men were trying to heard the frightened sheep but were failing miserably. The sheep were fidgeting every which way and refused to be herded. The girl wriggled under his heavy boot and there came a clear tinkling sound. At the sound of the bell the sheep moved as one toward the shepard girl. Soon Berwald was surrounded by a large group of sheep. His men smirked and a few began laughing, with his foot he turned the girl back over. Kneeling down he pulled out a knife and slashed through the string tying a medium sized bell to her wrist. Grabbing her staff where he had dropped it he retied to bell to the staff and handed it off to another raider. As the sheep followed the tinkling of the bell Berwald turned his attention bck to the bound and gagged teenager.

The villagers watched the frightenly tall raider examain the still shepardess, Kaija. His eyes held no malice but his 6'3 height combined with his stern expression and impressive array of weaponry was terrifying. Glacning around he seemed to see nothing of significange and without even a grunt hoisted the teenager up and tossed her over his shoulder like a rag doll. Kaija practically screamed in frustration as he carried her out of the village but there was still she could do, bound and gagged so tightly. The raider ignored her and strode out of the village. Hsi raiders leaving a trail of destruction. They watched in horror as the some of the houses began to go up in flames. The old village leader caught sight of the girls stricken face as the sight of the fires.

Berwald ignored the increasingly desperate wiggling, for that's all she could actually do at this point, in favor of questioning his own actions. Why in Odin's name had he brought the girl with him, maybe it was because he could sense that there was something odd about her? As he thought a small plan formed in the back of his head.

As his men made camp Berward tossed the girl next to the fire and began attending to the other things. An hour later she was surrounded by druken raiders, all cracking bad jokes and offering her beer. Satisfied she wasn't headed anywhere he pulled out his own sleeping gear and laid down for sleep.

As the raiders began to doze off Kaija inched closer to one of the more druken ones. This one had a dagger on his belt, he didn't even stir as she pulled it gingerly out of its sheath. He was entirley to drunk. With the dagger in hand Kaija began the slow and painful process of slicing though her bonds. It took a good hour to finally get through, considering she could only grip the dagger in between her thumb and forefinger. Yanking off her gag she bounded gingerly to her feet and inched her way out of the camp. At the edge of the camp she accidently snapped and tiny twig but she ignored it, it was to small of a noise to awaken anyone. What she didn't see as she ran into the forest was the Chief's ice blue eyes snap open.

The raider knew what was wrong the second his eyes snapped open, the remains of the cords that had held her were piled up next to the fire and his second in commands prized dagger was gone. Nimbly he leapt to his feet and grabbed his sword, his eyes followed the trail of footsteps and with a single bound he leapt over the fire and sprinted into the woods. Grabbing some spare rope as he went. As he followed the tracks he could hear her sprinting a good ways ahead of him. She was almost as quiet as he was but not quiet enough.

As they ran into the night time forest both kept up a steady pace, Berwald wasn't sure if she knew he was following her but eventually she would stop and he would find out. She didn't head back to the village but instead ran north, pas the village. Possibly on her way to another one for aid?

The shepard girl eventually stopped in a clearing, after scouting the edges she crawled under a rather large bush and snuggling in her furs she fell asleep, hidden from the world. Berwald silently scaled into on the the massive trees and wedging his large body into a branch off he fell into a light doze.

Kaija slept for a long time, secure with the knowledge no one would be able to find her. She had run toward the nothern border of her country, in a few days she would reach the boder between kingdoms and restart her life, again. As she crawled out from under her bush she stretched in the early morning sunlight. Her stomach growled and she patted it. "It's alright, I'll get some food soon enough." Yawning she knelt in the snow and rubbed some of it onto her face, the freezing cold waking her up. Rubbing her face dry Astrid stood up again and turned around.

Just as Kaija was crawling out of her bush Berwalf woke up. He watched her talk and then rub snow into her face. As she turned around he put on his fiercest scowl and dropped out of the tree, right in front of her.

All the blood drained from her face and her mouth popped open in a soundless scream as the absolutly terrifying raider dropped out of the sky in front of her. It didn't matter if she was almost as tall as he was, this guy was terrifying! Kaija screamed, she screamed a bloodcurdling scream of absolute terror. She backpedaled and fell back onto her rear, scrambling backward she frantically looked around for a weapon, finding nothing she stopped moving and stared up at him, quivering in fear. The raider growled low in his throat, as animalesque as his roar. He reached down for her and Kaija squeezed her eyes shut, fearing a slap. It never came, instead he grabbed her by her shirt front and slammed her bodily into the tree behind her. She opened her eyes and stared into his fearfully, tensing for a beating she was sure was coming. The viking did nothing but scowl into her eyes and slowly lowered her to the snow. With a firm grip on her upper arm he began following the tracks they had made yesterday. Kaija whimpered slightly and tugged away from him. A fierce glare was enough to convince her otherwise.

As he dragged the rather unwiling teen behind him Berwald felt only a little guilty at scaring her so much. He knew it would take a long time for him to reach the boat but he wasn't concerned. In that time the girl would learn to not mess with him. As they walked he felt it nessessary to talk.

"Wh't 's ye' n'm?" He asked, deep voice rumbling. The girl looked up at him, surprised, after a moment she answered.

"Kaija." she said, her voice soft.

" 'r ye' 'n 'rphan?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

" No f'ther has h's daugth'r t'nd'ng sh'p 't n'ght."

"Oh."

They walked in silence for several hours, both feeling uncomfortably hungry. Astrid was walking alongside him, no longer striving to escape.

When they finally made it back to the boat his men bounded up to them.

"What happened?"

"Did she give you much trouble?"

"Can we leave now?"

"G't r'dy t' sa'l," he ordered and he dragged her bodily onto the boat. Taking a pair of shakles from the bottom of the boat he shackled her to the boat.

After several hours of freezing cold sailing Kaija was shivering at the bottom of the boat, several gallons of water had leaked into the boat. She shivered and hugged herself, trying to get warm. There was a shout and Kaija cranned her neck to see the thin dark line of land. Silently she cheered in her head, pleased thather awful journey was coming to an end. Berwald stood at the bow of the boat, staring into the distance, Kaija couldn't help but notice the many smirks the men were giving him. Soon she would make landfall and Kaija couldn't wait to get her feet on solid ground.

As the boat crunched up the shore Berwald shivered in excitment, of course his stern expression never wavered, no need to make his men creeped out. There was a buzz of excitment on the entire boat, he could even see the shine of excitment in his young captives eyes, he could only hope his wife wouldn't mind what he had done. Stalking to the back of his boat he unshackled Kaija and pulled her to the edge of the boat. Scooping her up into his arms he vaulted off the boat, Kaija cringed and curled up a little, pressing into his chest. Berwald rumbled with pleasure, so she didnt' hate him. He stalked though the village, ignoring the crude words of him men but instead carried Kaija to the largest house in the village. His house.

Kaija glanced around, the village seemed to be full of life, people running everywhere and they stopped when Berwald and his men entered. Women cheered and sprinted toward lovers or husband or brothers but Berwald just walked past it all. No one seemed find this odd but she saw the biggest house in the village looming in front of her. Berwald put her down and still holding onto her forearm knocked on the door. The door burst open, reaveling a small woman with blond hair and big violet eyes.

"Berwald, oh Berwald," the tiny woman tackled the massive raider and he let go of her arms in favor for wrapping it around her waist. Berwald and the tiny woman promptly started kissing and Kaija stumbled to one side, squishing the urge to giggle. The massive viking brought to heel by a tiny woman!

When they finally stopped to breath the small woman slid down his chest and landed on the ground with a graceful jump.

"Berwald, who is this?" just as Kauja said, "Who is this?"

Berwald normally stoic face turned a light pink and the lady laughed lightly, "come in dear, come in." She latched onto Berwalds arm and pulled him into the house. Kaija followed behind, finding the entire situation hilarious.

Once Kaija entered the woman stopped her saying, "Oh no, why are you so wet, you'll catch your death. Lets get you some dry things." She pulled her into the house and ordered her to remove her shirt,

"come my dear boy, get that shirt off and I'll give you a new one." Kaija flushed as the woman turned toward her and peeled off her many layers, Berwald had the mind to turn his head. As the lady pulled off her shirt she stopped when she saw the bandages around her chest. no nessessarily to keep her breats down tight but to stop them from jiggling. The woman flushed bright red, "your a girl." just as Kaija finally caught on, "Your a man?'

There was a beat of awkard silence until both of them started laughing, "I can't believe your a girl, you look far to manly," laughed the rediculously effeminent man.

"You're to girly to be a man," giggled Kaija as she changed her clothes, now behind a cutain hanging in the corner.

When they were finally sitting around the table Berwald spoke. "Th's 's m' w'fe, T'no, T'no, th's 's Kaija. Sh's 'n orph'n 'n h'mle's."

Kaija scowled at him, "You're the reason I'm homless Mr. Berwald, you burnt down my house."

"Y'r 'n orph'n."

"I could have had a father that you killed." Kaija said pointedly.

"Kaija," gasped Tino, agast, "don't talk like that, be polite."

Kaija shot him an ugly look, feelings of dislike for the raider returning.

"'Y d'dn't."

"How do you know that," snapped Kaija.

"Y' w'r prot'ct'n th' sh'p 'nd 'ye t'ld me." Kaija opened her mouth to argue but thier conversation in the forect replayed in her head. Closing it she sat back in the seat and scowled heavily.

"Kaija, be polite,' said Tino sharply and he glanced between the two scowling people. Both were really intimidatinng and he didn't know what had happend today and yesterday but it must have created hard feelings.

"Berwald, I think you should check out how the spoils are being split," he said hurridely and Berwald nodded then stood. Tino hurried out after him and just as the door was shut hissed, "why did you bring her back?"

" ye s'd ye' want'd a f'mly," Berwald said, hanging his head a bit, 'sh' h'd n'ne s' I th'ght." He trailed off and Tino giggled. Oh his lovely husband was indeed a big sweetheart but he needed to help to solve the hard feelings before a fight broke out. Once Berwald was off to the boat Tino went back inside and found Kaija sitting near the fire, staring intently into the flames.

"Hello Kaija," he said gently and the girls head snapped up he met her big blue eyes. The girl was awkwardly tall, much bigger than most boys her age. It was obvious she hadn't exactly grown comfortable with her body yet. Her blond hair was chopped short like someone had hacked at it with a knife. Her hands were rather large and with lots of scars criss crossing over her fingers and palms, a scar under her right eyebrow made it white and her face was a pleasnt oval shape. Kaija's shoulders were rounder and broader than most boys and she had a stockier build than most women. Too big to be a woman to small to be a man. She was all hard lines and planes but here eyes were a soft, gentle blue color, probably the only soft thing in her entire makeup, but they were filled with tears.

"Oh dear, why are you crying?" He asked softly and her bottom lip trembled. She looked away from him and he saw a tear slid down her cheek. Tino reached to to touch her shoulder but she slapped his hand away. She hunched up and continued to shake with silent sobs. Hesitating he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and this time she didn't shake him off. With his sprare arms he pulled a chair up next to her, he sat down and snaked his arm around her shoulder and gave her a comforting squeeze. Kaija continued to cry for another moment but she latched onto Tino's neck and cried into the smaller persons neck. Tino rubbed her back, not sure what to do, he had no idea about this girl but it must be important to get such a stoic child crying.

"What's wrong?" She didn't answer but sobbed harder, completly soaking his shirt. When she finally begn to calm down she rubbed her eyes and blew her nose, she looked at Tino fearfully through leaky eyes.

"Do you want to know why Berwald brought you here," he asked and she shook her head, still trying to stem her tears.

"I mentioned a year ago that I wanted a family and when he found you were an orphan he thought could use a family, us. I know he looks scary but in reality he's a gentle giant, I hope he didn't do much tho make you hate him." Kaija shook her head and Tino did a mentle fist pump. " I know it'll be weird to have two men as parents but would you please give a us a chance? Please?" Kaija seemed to think this over and nodded, she gave him a watery smile and hugged him, snuggling her head in his chest. Tino chuckled and stroked her hair, he stopped when he heard the tell-tale rumble of a hungry stomach. He met Kaija's eyes and she blushed a bright red color and they both began to laugh.

"I'll make stew," he said, "sit down and tell me about yourself." Kaija watched him move about the house and talked. Tino 'hmmed' and 'uhhhed' in the right places and occasionaly asked questions, gasping in the right places and making threats about people in her past.

"And that's how I ended up here," 'she said just as Tino was spooning the thick stew into bowls.

"I can't belive he tied you up and scared you like that, I'll have a talk with him, don't you worry," huffed Tino, fowning slightly.

"So how did you end up here," asked Kaija, gazing hungrily at the bowl. She stopped and looked at him curiously when he began to giggle.

"Actually not much different than you but with a slight twist."

"Oh go on and tell me," Kaija said, once again eyeing the food.

Tino set it in front of her and she made a hasty grab for it. "Good heavans, you are a lady, no some animal. Eat like this." Kaija growled in frustration as he demontrated the proper way to eat, Kaija simply ignored everything he taught her in favor for scarfing down the delicious soup as fast as she could.

"Oh well, we'll get there eventually," he said and sat down opposite her.

"So tell me how you got brought here." Insisted Kaija but Tino just shook his head.

The door opened and Berwald entered, Kaija froze a little but Tino shood up and kissed him, there's food, I need to go get some things from the doctor." He left and Berwald and Kaija examained eachother curiously, no one said anything as Berwald spooned up his own bowl and took the seat that Tino had just vacated.

"So Tino told me the reason you brought me here," she began slowly, stirring her third bowl of soup, "If you had told me that at the beginning then I wouldn't have made that much of a fuss."

"M'ma." He said, beginning to eat.

"Excuse me?"

"T'no 's m'ma, c'll h'm tha', I'm Papa." Kaija blinked once, twice and then began eating her soup, head spinning. This man was scary but his 'wife' was a sweet thing, Kaija watched as Tino came back into the room and her new 'Mama' and 'Papa' talk. This could take some getting use to.

Some questions-

1 Did you like to story?

2 do you think I should make this longer? because I totally could, should i add more chapers?

3 which was your favorite scene?

4 favorite color?


	2. Chapter 2

The first few weeks did not go over well, Kaija and Berwald constantly butted heads, most often about the simplest and petty things. Whatever to prove dominance over the other, Tino felt as if he was drowning in the anger and resentment that frizzled between the bickering two. It wasn't just Kaija starting the arguments, sometimes she'd be perfectly happy and Berwald would mutter something under his breath and an argument would start from there, like right now.

The two were fighting, no surprise, and Tino was getting really sick of it.

" Y'r p'rents m'st h've 'bandon'd y', I d'n't bl'me th'm," rumbled Berwald and Kaija slammed her hands onto the table, shooting out of her seat.

"Bring it old timer, but don't be surprised if your weak bones don't snap under the pressure of an ass kicking," she snapped and the two glared. Berwald's biting retort was cut off when Tino snapped.

"BE QUIET BOTH OF YOU!" he yelled and the two combatants turned to him, surprised etched on thier faces. Tino was wielding a dangerous looking wooden spoon, face marred by furious anger. Steadily he advanced upon them, neither Kaija nor Berwald dared to move.

'THAT IS ENOUGH FIGHTING FROM BOTH OF YOU! WE ARE FAMILY AND FAMILY DOES NOT ARUGE LIKE ANIMALS," he turned his livid gaze on both of them and they flinched simotaineously, he voice went deadly soft, "The next time one of you starts a fight like this I'll trash you both within an inch of your life," he waggled the spoon under both of thier noses, "understand?" Both nodded fervently and Tino turned back to the food, 'Berwald, go look at the boat building progress, Kaija, go get more water.' Without another word the two fled, running out of the building, not daring to anger him further.

As Kaija lugged the huge water bucket behind her, still fuming with anger. 'Hey there Kaija!' she stopped moving and turned to face Matthias, a raider her age. His hair was a source of joking between the two as it stuck up straight and was a pale blond color, not unlike herd.

'Hi Matthias, what are you doing?' she asked, stopping. He leaned against the corner of the house and smirked.

'Well when the new boat gets done I'll be headed off with the raiders.' He looked entierly to happy about this to Kaija.

'Havn't you already gone off with them?' she asked.

"Only once, I'd like to actually see some action," he looked ecstatic and jumped up, "what about you?"

"I'd like to go home," she said shortly and contined on her way, Matthias fell in step next to her and easily kept pace.

"What's that?" Matthias sounded troubled, "Why?"

Kaija sighed in irritation, "Because when I lived on my own no one told me what to do. I was my own master, no one owned me and I could pitch in my own opinion for the towns good. Now I'm ignored, disrespected and I hate it." She kept stomping on, her anger growing with each step until she reached the creek and she was setting things on fire with her mind.

"ARRRRGGHHHH," she bellowed in anger and slammed the bucket into the ground and Mathias jumped back in fear and surprise.

"Kaija?" he warbled and she whipped around, eyes blazing, "But you wouldn't have met me?

"Do you think I care?" she hissed and he looked hurt.

"Well," he said slowly as she crouched next to the water and began filling her bucket, "I'd like you to care." With that he left and Kaija glanced over her shoulder, eyes sad and her shoulders dropped. Groaning she buried her face in her hands and mentaly berated herself.

Berwald could not stop a frown from making its way onto his already intimidating face. The boat work was going well but his wife was angry at him. What was the point of anything if his wife was angry at him? And he still couldn't make friends with his own daugther. She was still being difficult, but anyone whose been surviving on their own that long he couldn't really blame her. Most people didn't like being conquered by raiders. But she was being cared for, he was giving her a home and family, why was she so difficult? He turned on his heel and stalked toward his house.

"Hey Berwald!" He glanced back to see Matthias, an irritating new raider who his glares had no effect on. He stopped and waited for the teen to catch up. "Berwald," he said, taking a few deep breaths, "I think Kaija is going to try to run away." This caught him off guard but he simply blinked. "She didn't say when but she is definetly going to do it soon." Berwald nodded his thanks and continued on his way home, leaving Matthias wondering if he had done the right thing.

Dinner that night was a very muted affair, no one looked at each other and Tino was still angry. Even the ever so argumentive Berwald and Kaija were silent, leaving Tino in an uncomfortable silence. When the meal ended Tino snatched up the plates in an angry manner and Berwald ran off to the boat work and Kaija settled down on the cot in the kitchen, waiting for Tino to leave. With one hand she fingered the drawstrings of her bag, soon Tino would be asleep and she could slip away. Berwald would be to busy on the boat to stop her.

When Tino's soft snore finally reached her ears she slid the fur blanket back. Carefully, to avoid the creaks in the floor Kaija crept toward the door. Silently she opened the door and slid out, grabbing her abondoned staff in the corner on the way out. 'Only half way there,' she throught and slipped through the village, avoiding all signed of life until she reached the outskirts. She was only a few feet into the forest when a frightening figure appeared in front of her, Berwald, and he did not look happy.

"Oh shit," she whispered and pulled her staff protectivly in front of her.

"Wh't d' ye th'nk y'r g'ng?" he rumbled and Kaija could not stop a shiver a fear run down her spine, his eyes bere blazing and full of anger and even a pinch of sadness.

Kaija swallowed nervously, "I-I'm leaving, and there's nothing you can do," she tighened her grip on her staff, watching him carefully. His chest expanded as he took a slow breath.

'Why?"

Oh gods that was frightening, an entire word without even the slightest stumble.

Kaija's brain shorted out for several seconds, she couldn't think of anything to say as Berwald waited expectantly.

"I-I want my freedom back," she finally said and Berwald snorted in disbelief.

" 'f fr'd'm m'ns st'rvin' 'nd h'ml'ss th'n g' ah'd. W' t'k c're 'f y', w' l'ved ye'."

"NO!" shouted Kaija, shoulders shaking, "I-I want to be my own person. I don't want social restrictions to dictate my life." Even as she said these words her face showed confusion, fear and sadness like she was trying to convince herself while Berwald's temper only rose. Struggling mightily to keep it under control his gaze hardened and he took a step foreward.

Kaija trembled and took a step back there was a quiet moment of tension until she broke it by taking a wild swing at his head.

Time froze as the staff stopped moving, Kaija opened one of her eyes and her blood ran cold.

His eyes were chips of ice glaring furiously at her frozen form, his black gloved hand hand had grabbed the end of her staff right out the air. Kaija didn't think twice, letting go of her staff she slid past Berwald and sprinted into the woods. Or rather, she tried to. As she puled away several thing happened at once. Berwald pulled the staff back and shoved it front of her knees, causing her to trip. As she fell forward he gave a solid push on the back and the girl went flying.

She slid several feet in the snow and finally came to a stop against a tree. Groaning she rolled onto her back and slumped against the tree trunk. Shaking her head she tried to get rid of the fuzziness overpowering her throughts. A blurry figure loomed over her and she squinted up to see Bewald swoop down and felt his massive hand grab the back of her shirt.

"GYYA!"she yelped as he grabbed her wrist in such a vicious grip she could feel the bones protesting under so much pressure. Unbidden tear sprang to her eyes as Berwald wheeled around pulled her violently toward the village.

"Ahhhh," she gasped, "stop, you're hurting me." He ignored her as he made a sharp turn and approached a large but empty shed.

"Berwald! Stop, that hurts," she gasped as he opened the heavy oak door. With a growl he threw onto the layer of hay coating the floor. Kaija lay sprawled on the floor for a moment before she lifted her head to glance fearfully at Berwald.

" . Not. Leaving." he growled and as Kaija launched herself at the door, slammed it shut.

"BERWALD, LET ME OUT! OPEN THIS DOOR!" screamed Kaija hysterically, pounding her fists on the wood. Berwald ignored her and leaned against the wall, listening to her cries, covering his face with his hand the other clenched at his side. With visible effort he walked away, striving to ignore the pleas for freedom.

So angsty and sad...sooooooo. Tell me what you think, please. Reviews give me plot bunnies.


	3. Chapter 3

I do not own Hetalia

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To say that Tino was furious would be a gross understatement. When he had awoken to see Berwald sitting at the kitchen table he had known something was wrong. The argument that had followed shook the very foundations on which they stood. The raider had been banished to the very cot which the teen had slept the night before.

Two days passed before he even thought about the runaway. Berwald was staring at the ceiling on the second night when he realized she had no food.

#$#$

Kaija spent two days locked up in the storage building with no food. She shivered, the winter was getting worse and hay only offered so much protection from the biting winds. Two days was a long time to go without food or water. There wasn't even any snow she could eat to get even a little bit of nourishment. And with her body still recovering from several months of near starvation the teen could barely move. She shivered in the nest of hay and the little material still in the storage room. The noise of the wind became louder for a moment before the door shut.

"Hello?" she peeled back an eye lid as a large, solid, warm mass dropped to its knees next to her. A large hand brushed back some of the hay covering her face and the blank face of Berwald's appeared above her.

"Berwald?" He shushed her and lifted her head up and brought a wide ladle to her lips. Kaija sucked greedily as the welcome coolness soothed her burning insides. Berwald checked her drinking and all to soon took it away. She blinked, slowly he was coming into sharper focus. Her stomach gave a heavy rumble, in reply he brought a spoon of steaming broth to her mouth. With kindness she hadn't known him to posses Berwald fed the teen like she was a baby. Spooning food and wiping it away if it spilled down her chin. Eventually the girl fell asleep in the middle of accepting another ladlefull of water. It dripped down her chin as her head slumped against his chest. The violent shivering died down when he tucked a heavy blanket around her. Kaija had a faint smile on her lips as he left, taking the empty bowls with him but he locked the door behind him.

#$#$#$#$#

Berwald had assumed that Tino had been in bed a long while ago but he shut the door behind him and set the bowls on the table he was met with periwinkle eyes.

"Is she okay?"

He shook his head. With a huff Tino did an about face and marched back into the room, leaving the door open.

"Don't get any ideas," Tino said as Berwald slipped into bed beside him. They lay there for a while not speaking until Tino sighed.

"Do you know anything of her past?"

"No."

"She's been an orphan or as long as she can remember. Raised by the brutal wife of an innkeeper she was basically a slave until she ran away. Everywhere she goes it's been a repeat of the same old thing. When you took her she was beyond terrified, fearing some evil fate but she didn't. Then she had no idea how to adjust to a family setting, you needed to have more patience."

"Hmmmm," Berwald hummed and played with his wifes hair in the dark.

Silence...

"You're not getting anything if you don't let her go in the morning Berwald." Tino felt his partner stiffen in shock.

"F'rst th'ng t'm'rrow."

"Good boy." Tino gave him a chaste kiss but warded off all attempts to continue.

# # # #

Lukas slipped silently out of his boat. The wind was biting as even more raiders assembled on the shore line. He watched the village, it was well armed and guarded a home to other raiders but he didn't care. It would be enough for his people to survive, they were counting on him to survive. Putting a slim finger to his lips he slipped through the town. A large house loomed over him and gliding the heavy door open he eased his way in.

Before he could assault such a large town he had to kill the leader. In a corner was a cot, no one rested on it and he blinked his expressionless eyes in confusion. He made no noise as he opened a door to find two figures lying on the bed. On was much larger and obviously male, he lay on his back with the arms of his wife wrapped around his chest.

Oh well, he'd just have to kill them both.

The teen raised his knife but hesitated, the mans large blunt fingers tightened protectively as the moonlight shone through for a moment.

They were both men.

Lukas gasped...ice blue eyes snapped open and he froze. It was a terrifying glower that seized his soul and burnt it thoroughly. He didn't get time to comprehend what happened, the blue eyed man was on his feet and grabbed the wrist which held the knife. Lukas hissed and the knife clattered to the ground; the grip was bruising and followed by a massive hand that clamped around his throat. He knew he had no chance of surviving the night. His intended victim threw him violently against the wall and Lukas saw stars.

Above him a wicked sword appeared, it hovered above him and slammed down.

…..Lukas cracked an eye open. The sword had not plunged into his chest but rather into the floor next to his head. The massive man was breathing heavily, glaring at him, the smaller male also held a weapon in hand, looking oddly dangerous for such a sweet faced person.

He didn't dare move as they threw on a few clothes, the closeness of death was terrifying and he had to live for his little brother. He shuddered as the big man appeared, Lukas was flipped onto his stomach and a large foot planted on his back. Before the teen could voice a protest his head was yanked back.

"Arckkkk,!" the yelp of pain was cut off by a gag that was swiftly tied. Tears sprang to his eyes when he was hauled to his feet by the silver mop of hair resting on his scalp. Lukas scrabbled at the massive arm but it didn't relent, smaller hands flew over his body, relieving him of his weapons and spare supplies.

#$#$#$#$#$#$#

Kaija sat up when the door slammed up so hard it bounced off the wall. Berwald was standing in the doorway, half dressed looking so terrifying her muscles froze. With as little flair three days earlier he bodily threw an unknown person in and slammed the door shut.

"Hello?" She questioned and the person groaned, "Hello?" She crawled from under blanket and teetered nervously over to him.

He rolled onto his back and she saw dull purple eyes of a teenager with mused silver hair. A strip of ripped shirt gagged the boy rather tightly. Obviously Berwald's doing. He wore raiding gear but not the kind associated with Berwald's village.

What the hell was a foreign raider doing here?

"Who are you." Kaija sat back on her haunches, he stared at her.

_You are an idiot,_ his eyes said. _I'm gagged and tied up._

"I know you're tied up but if I ungag you will you answer my questions?"

He sighed, nestling back into the ground.

_How do I know you'e not going to hurt me?_

"You don't," Kaija felt a little cheerful now that there was someone to talk to.

_Fine._ He closed his eyes in resignation and she undid the gag, trying to be a gently as possible.

"So who are you?" He opened his eyes again.

"Who are you?" His accent was cute and she smiled ever so slightly, his expression didn't change.

"I asked you first."

"I asked you second, two is a bigger number."

"I could always regag you."

"Then you definitely won't get an answer."

"You're an ass."

"Yes."

"I'm Kaija."

"Lukas."

"Why are you here? I haven't seen you around the village before." She wrapped him in the blanket he looked astonished.

"I was caught trying to kill the tall one."

"Berwald!?" Kaija sat back, staring, he just looked annoyed.

"Is that his name?"

"Yeah...I can't believe you're not dead yet. He's not exactly what I'd call Mr. Nice Guy."

Lukas tilted his head and rolled onto his back, his wrists and ankles had been bound and they had been connected by another rope.

"Why are you here?" The taller teen didn't answer but huddled back in the hay, "My people will come."

"Come again?"

"My people will attack, they will burn this place to the ground."

Kaija held her hands over her open mouth, "That can't happen. We have to warn them!"

"I don't care either way."

"But that's terrible."

"My people are starving and poor, but strong enough to rip this place to shreds. Don't count on having this around much longer."

"Lukas, but," she sat cross legged, nervously fiddling with a piece of hay, "what if we talk it out? What if Berwald agrees to take care of them. They have plenty."

At this Lukas sighed, "Perhaps, but the attack is planned for tonight. How are we going to get out of this room?"

Kaija smiled, "A friend of mine slipped me a few things early this morning. I can have us out in ten minutes."

"Get started then."

As she jiggled with the lock Kaija paused, "Berwald might not like this."

"Not surprising."

"Seriously, you have no idea how many times I've disobeyed him. He's always been a word from snapping at me."

"The price we might have to pay to preserve peace. I'd rather not have most of my villagers killed or yours so hurry up."

Twenty minutes later the two teens were outside in the freezing cold.

"We need to find Berwald," Kaija took a step for the nearest building, She didn't see Lukas's doubled fist slam into the back of her neck. His treachery only registered one she slumped to the snow, too stunned to do anything.

"Don't be surprised, I would do anything for my people." As her vision went dark Kaija felt herself being hauled onto someone's back and she knew no more.


End file.
